Neuro-fuzzy chip to handle complex tasks with analog performance

This paper presents a mixed-signal neuro-fuzzy controller chip which, in terms of power consumption, input–output delay, and precision, performs as a fully analog implementation. However, it has much larger complexity than its purely analog counterparts. This combination of performance and complexity is achieved through the use of a mixed-signal architecture consisting of a programmable analog core of reduced complexity, and a strategy, and the associated mixed-signal circuitry, to cover the whole input space through the dynamic programming of this core. Since errors and delays are proportional to the reduced number of fuzzy rules included in the analog core, they are much smaller than in the case where the whole rule set is implemented by analog circuitry. Also, the area and the power consumption of the new architecture are smaller than those of its purely analog counterparts simply because most rules are implemented through programming. The Paper presents a set of building blocks associated to this architecture, and gives results for an exemplary prototype. This prototype, called multiplexing fuzzy controller (MFCON), has been realized in a CMOS 0.7 um standard technology. It has two inputs, implements 64 rules, and features 500 ns of input to output delay with 16-mW of power consumption. Results from the chip in a control application with a dc motor are also provided

A Modular Programmable CMOS Analog Fuzzy Controller Chip

We present a highly modular fuzzy inference analog CMOS chip architecture with on-chip digital programmability. This chip consists of the interconnection of parameterized instances of two different kind of blocks, namely label blocks and rule blocks. The architecture realizes a lattice partition of the universe of discourse, which at the hardware level means that the fuzzy labels associated to every input (realized by the label blocks) are shared among the rule blocks. This reduces the area and power consumption and is the key point for chip modularity. The proposed architecture is demonstrated through a 16-rule two input CMOS 1-μm prototype which features an operation speed of 2.5 Mflips (2.5×10^6 fuzzy inferences per second) with 8.6 mW power consumption. Core area occupation of this prototype is of only 1.6 mm 2 including the digital control and memory circuitry used for programmability. Because of the architecture modularity the number of inputs and rules can be increased with any hardly design effort.This work was supported in part by the Spanish C.I.C.Y.T under Contract TIC96-1392-C02- 02 (SIVA)

Nanocrystalline cathodes for PC-SOFCs based on BCZY

Perovskites based on BaCeO3-δ exhibit the highest proton conductivity among this class of materials, however, they are susceptible to hydration and carbonation in presence of water vapor and CO2 [1]. In contrast, the chemical stability of BaZrO3-based protonic conductors is better, but they require sintering temperatures as high as 1700 ºC and suffer from high intrinsic grain boundary resistance, limiting the final performance. Partial substitution of Zr for Ce in Ba(Ce0.9-xZrx)Y0.2O3-δ allows obtaining electrolytes with both high proton conductivity and good chemical stability. The performance of a PC-SOFC at low temperatures depends significantly on the ohmic resistance of the electrolyte, although it can be lowered by reducing the electrolyte thickness. Another important limiting factor is the increase of the cathode polarization resistance due to the thermally activated nature of the oxygen reduction reaction. For this reason, it is essential to obtain high efficiency cathodes operating at reduced temperatures. In this work, BaCe0.6Zr0.2Y0.2O3-δ (BCZY) powders were prepared by freeze-drying precursor method. These powders were mixed with a Zn-containing solution as sintering additive in order to obtain dense pellets with submicrometric grain size at only 1200 ºC. After that, La0.6Sr0.4Co0.8Fe0.2O3 nanocrystalline electrodes were deposited symmetrically onto dense pellets BCZY by conventional spray-pyrolysis [3]. The structure, microstructure and electrochemical properties of these electrodes have been examined by XRD, FE-SEM and impedance spectroscopy. The stability of these electrodes at intermediate temperatures was evaluated as a function of time. These nanocrystalline cathodes exhibit a substantial improvement of the electrode polarization resistance with respect to the same materials prepared by screen-printing method at high sintering temperatures, e.g. 0.7 and 3.2 cm2 at 600 ºC for LSCF cathodes prepared by spray-pyrolysis and screen-printing method respectively (Figure). An anode supported cell with composition LSCF/BCZY/NiO-BCZY was also prepared to test the electrochemical performance.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech

A methodolgy to compute mixing ratios with uncertain end-members

Mixing calculations involve computing the ratios in which two or more end‐members are mixed in a sample. Mixing calculations are useful for a number of tasks in hydrology, such as hydrograph separation, water or solute mass balances, and identification of groundwater recharge sources. Most methods available for computing mixing ratios are based on assuming that end‐member concentrations are perfectly known, which is rarely the case. Often, end‐members cannot be sampled, and their concentrations vary in time and space. Still, much information about them is contained in the mixtures. To take advantage of this information, we present here a maximum likelihood method to estimate mixing ratios, while acknowledging uncertainty in end‐member concentrations. Maximizing the likelihood of concentration measurements with respect to both mixing ratios and end‐member concentrations leads to a general constrained optimization problem. An algorithm for solving this problem is presented and applied to two synthetic examples of water mixing problems. Results allow us to conclude that the method outperforms traditional approaches, such as least squares or linear mixing, in the computation of mixing ratios. The method also yields improved estimates of end‐member concentrations, thus enlarging the potential of mixing calculations. The method requires defining the reliability of measurements, but results are quite robust with respect to the assumed standard deviations. A nice feature of the method is that it allows for improving the quality of computations by increasing the number of samples and/or analyzed species

On the meaning of the transmissivity values obtained from recovery tests

      Recovery tests are based on estimating transmissivity, T, from the heads that rebound after pumping has stopped. Recovery tests can be performed in wells where conventional constant-rate pumping tests would not be possible. Test interpretation is based on the simple Theis recovery method, related to late time drawdown in an infinite homogeneous aquifer. Yet, field data often cannot be explained by the homogeneous theory. Because T is heterogeneous over an evolving range of scales, it is important to evaluate the support scale of hydraulic tests. Numerical simulations are performed to show that heterogeneity in T can explain these field observations. It is also shown that the local T value around the well can be inferred from early time-recovery data, assuming ideal conditions, whereas late time data yield a large-scale (regional) representative value. Even when recovery is observed for a short time, indirect information about the regional value can also be obtained. A method for the interpretation of recovery tests is proposed based on the Theis recovery method that takes into account the heterogeneity of aquifers. Finally, some guidelines are provided for best test performance depending on the scale of the problem. &nbsp

Tratamiento de la esquizofrenia en el primer episodio psicótico. Revisión de la literatura

La esquizofrenia es un trastorno mental psicótico, de etiología en estudio, caracterizado por alteraciones del pensamiento, del estado de ánimo y del comportamiento. Objetivo: Analizar la literatura del 2006 al 2011 acerca del manejo del primer episodio psicótico en la esquizofrenia. Material y método: Revisión sistemática de la literatura de acuerdo con criterios de la Medicina Basada en Evidencias de acuerdo con el Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine (CEBM) de Oxford. Resultados: De un total de 50 artículos, 23 de ellos (46%) hacen referencia a aspectos farmacológicos y 27 artículos (54%) describen intervenciones psicosociales, terapia molecular y seguimiento de tratamientos farmacológicos por estudios de neuro-imagen. Un solo artículo correspondió a nivel de evidencia 1 y grado de recomendación A. Conclusiones: El manejo de la esquizofrenia está con antipsicóticos de segunda generación y la disminución del problema se ve al final del primer a˜no de manejo. La adición de antagonistas alfa 2 mejora la eficacia de los fármacos antipsicóticos al reducir los síntomas negativos. © 2014 Universidad Autónoma del Estado de México. Publicado por Masson Doyma México S.A. Todos los derechos reservado

Stimuli-responsive selection of target DNA sequences by synthetic bZIP peptides

One of the strategies used by nature to regulate gene expression relies on the stimuli controlled combination of DNA-binding proteins. This in turn determines the target-binding site within the genome, and thereby whether a particular gene is activated or repressed. Here we demonstrate how a designed basic region leucine zipper-based peptide can be directed towards two different DNA sequences depending on its dimerization arrangement. While themonomeric peptide is non-functional, a C-terminal metallo-dimer recognizes the natural ATF/CREB-binding site (5'-ATGA cg TCAT-3'), and a N-terminal disulphide dimer binds preferentially to the swapped sequence (5-TCATcg ATGA-30'). As the dimerization mode can be efficiently controlled by appropriate external reagents, it is possible to reversibly drive the peptide to either DNA site in response to such specific inputs. This represents the firstexample of a designed molecule that can bind to more than one specific DNA sequence depending on changes in its environment.Fil: Mosquera, Jesus. Universidad de Santiago de Compostela. Facultad de Quimica. Departamento de Quimica Organica; EspañaFil: Jimenez Balsa, Adrian. Universidad de Santiago de Compostela. Facultad de Quimica. Departamento de Quimica Organica; EspañaFil: Dodero, Veronica Isabel. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Bahía Blanca. Instituto de Química del Sur; Argentina. Universidad de Santiago de Compostela; EspañaFil: Vázquez, M. Eugenio . Universidad de Santiago de Compostela. Facultad de Quimica. Departamento de Quimica Organica; EspañaFil: Mascareñas, José L. . Universidad de Santiago de Compostela. Facultad de Quimica. Departamento de Quimica Organica; Españ

Object Detection from Thermal Infrared and Visible Light Cameras in Search and Rescue Scenes

Visual object recognition is a fundamental challenge for reliable search and rescue (SAR) robots, where vision can be limited by lighting and other harsh environmental conditions in disaster sites. The goal of this paper is to explore the use of thermal and visible light images for automatic object detection in SAR scenes. With this purpose, we have used a new dataset consisting of pairs of thermal infrared (TIR) and visible (RGB) video sequences captured from an all-terrain vehicle moving through several realistic SAR exercises participated by actual first response organisations. Two instances of the open source YOLOv3 convolutional neural network (CNN) architecture are trained from annotated sets of RGB and TIR images, respectively. In particular, frames are labelled with four representative classes in SAR scenes comprising both persons civilian and first-responder) and vehicles (Civilian-car and response-vehicle). Furthermore, we perform a comparative evaluation of these networks that can provide insight for future RGB/TIR fusion.This work has been done in the framework of the TRUST-ROB project, funded by the Spanish Government (RTI2018-093421-B-I00). Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech